The very night Shiki agreed to help them, the four people—along with Celty's bike—were on a plane heading to Silent Hill. As they rode the plane in silence—well, mostly silence except for Shinra's excessive chatter to Celty—Ruri and Kasuka got on an ipad that was in the plane and went about researching Silent Hill.

Both were slightly disturbed about the information that was found on the place. Coal mines that burned deep underground, a fire that raged throughout the town, and unconfirmed counts of people dead due to many of the bodies having gone missing.

Once they found everything they could on the place, they attempted to look up files of Alessa Gillepsie but turned up with nothing—not even as a residence of Silent Hill and definitely not one of the missing bodies. They both found that extremely odd and used different spellings of the name to try for different results. But again, they turned up with nothing.

"There has to be something on her." Kasuka muttered.

"Perhaps we can find paper records in the town." Ruri said. "It seems that most of the people evacuated to Brahms, so maybe they took their documents with them."

"...This situation feels very wrong."

"Eh?"

"This whole ordeal. Orihara-san's dreams, the plane crash, the phone call. There's something wrong about this whole thing."

Ruri didn't answer. She didn't know what to say to comfort him or help his thought process. So, instead she reached out and gripped his hand to give a physical support.

Kasuka stared at the hand, then squeezed back to show his gratitude.


Izaya looked up at the blurry sky, standing in the center of a court yard. He would have assumed it was the playground for the kids but it was bare of any equipment for playing. He found that odd but if this school was a private industry, it would make sense why it would be more strict. However, from what he saw on the map before, this was the only school in the entire town—meaning it was a public school and should have public school standards of a play facility outside.

The raven noted the color of the sky was the same—a muggy gray—even though he was certain he had been inside for a good thirty minutes looking for the keys and clues. He was hoping he could tell when the Darkness was coming but he really had no way of figuring that out. So he sighed and continued across the courtyard to the double doors on the other side.


Shizuo pushed through the school doors.

"IZAYA!"

His voice echoed down the halls, followed closely by the door slamming behind him.

There was no reply back.

Shizuo glowered at the school hall.

'He has to be here.'

"Izaya! Answer me if you can! Izaya!"

There was still no reply.

Shizuo headed down the hall.

He turned to the first open door—which was a nurse's office. There was no one in there, however there were CPR mask cases scattered on the floor by it, but all the rest were untouched so to speak. The cabinet was opened—which was where the masks came from—but there was nothing of importance in it.

So he went across the hall to the sign-in office. There was, again, nothing of importance in the desk. The paper's he found were useless and not important. He noticed that the mail boxes on the far wall were all open so he checked those next. He found a note in a box towards the bottom right.

Shizuo turned and turned on his flashlight to look for a map in the poorly lit room. He found it on the wall, under a protective barrier of Plexiglas. He knew he wouldn't be able to memorize it but taking it would be vandalizing, wouldn't it? He wasn't sure about that answer. Then again, the place was abandoned so there was no one to catch or to dictate it was vandalism.

The blond waged with his conscious for a moment longer before he decided to take the map. Pulling the Plexiglas out of the wall was easy for him and he quickly grabbed the map before it could flutter to the ground.

'Where did you go, Izaya? You have to be in here.'

Shizuo had no clue where the raven could have gone. So he decided that he would search the building he was in, then look in the other building if he couldn't find him.

'Please be here.'


Izaya groaned when he pulled on the doors of the building and they didn't move.

'Locked.'

That annoyed him a bit that he would have to fumble with keys to open the door but he did so nonetheless.

He went through half the key ring before he found the one he needed and headed inside. He heard the door slam and click behind him so he assumed that the door could only be opened from the inside—what with the USA's gun rights, it would make sense that they didn't want people other than students coming in. But he decided not to dwell on that.

He headed down the hall, pausing for a moment to revisit the map in his head.

'First floor. Before the staircase.'

He continued on his way, keeping his eyes opened for the stairs. He knew the stairwell was in the open instead of behind a doorway so it wouldn't be hard to find. As he turned the corner, he came across what he was looking for. The staircase was at the end of the hall and right before it was the classroom.

He checked the name tag over the door to double check and it was indeed the female teacher he was wanting to find. There were two entrances to the classroom, one right before the staircase and one farther down the hall. Izaya went in through the closest door—which was the one farther down the hall.

It was a simple classroom with five-by-four rows of desk with a teachers desk in the front of the chalkboard at the head of the classroom.

'Okay, I'm here. Where are you, Alessa?'

Izaya turned his flashlight off since there were several windows that weren't covered with curtains or other things. He then turned to the shelves in the back. There was almost nothing but books except for an insignificant snow globe. To make sure he wasn't missing anything, he flipped through the books. He came across one that stated it belonged to Alessa Gillepsie but there was nothing specific in it.

He put the book down and headed to the desks. He quickly noticed all the desks were dirty—no surprise—except for a spot on one. He headed to that specific desk to see a hand print on the wood and on the wood was the word 'WITCH' chiseled into it. The name tag on the corner stated it was indeed Alessa's desk—as Izaya had thought.

He opened it, exposing books and drawings. The raven ignored the school objects and went straight to the sketchbook the drawings were sticking out of. He closed the desk to rest the book on the top and went through it.

All the pictures were dark. It seemed that they were happy and bright pictures but someone had gone over them with a black crayon, making the background and sky black with flickers of orange here and there. A few of the pictures were torn out, one of the tattered edges resembling the picture he found at the raft. His eyes narrowed to that realization.

One picture captivated Izaya because he couldn't understand it. The background was black and a person—presumably a girl because it wore a skirt—with black hair was standing in a floor of orange that completely surrounded her. There was that strange cross over her head with yellow glowing around it.

'What is this?'

The door creaked.

Izaya jolted and looked up.

A girl was standing in the door, staring at him. But as soon as Izaya saw her, she turned and ran.

"Hey!" Izaya dropped the sketchbook on the desk—hearing it clatter to the ground since he bumped it with his hip—and gave chase.

He turned down the hall to the staircase, looking up. He could see the girl through the gaps of the steps, seeing her school uniform and ragged black hair.

"Wait!" Izaya called as he ran up the steps.


Shizuo looked at the map then up at the doors, matching the symbols that he couldn't read. Never before had he hated himself for not paying attention in English back in high school than he did now. He had absolutely no clue what he was reading or where he was going. He just hoped he was heading in the right direction.

He entered another room, finding a snazzy looking room, with couches and elaborate carpet—although it was all run down and covered in dust.

'Is this the principal's office?'

Shizuo wondered only briefly before he went back out. Izaya wasn't there so it didn't matter to him.

Shizuo pulled out his pen and crossed off the last room on the second floor. He had searched the entire first building and had not found a trace of Izaya. Now it was time he headed to the second building. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of Izaya's coat, he went back down the stairs and down the hall to the double doors.

Once outside he noted his surroundings. A court yard. He found that extremely strange. Were they not in an elementary school? Where were the monkey bars? The slides? The jungle gyms? Did American schools not have that or was it just this particular school? He didn't know those answers and decided he wouldn't waste his time trying to figure that out. Instead, he went across the yard to the other double doors and pulled.

Locked.

Shizuo growled. He was half-tempted to just break them, to snap the knobs off. But he decided against it simply because he would rather lock things out if the chance arose.

So, instead he looked around for a clue.

However, the only clue was writing over the door that was in English—that he couldn't read.

'Dammit.'

He glowered at the writing.

He looked around for more hints.

'I wish I had a translator—'

Shizuo gasped loudly.

Then quickly reached into his pockets for Izaya's phones. Specifically the smart phone. He remembered talking to Tom-san about new technology and the dread-locked man started naming off its usefulness—one of which was the translator.

Izaya's smart phone didn't have a pass code lock—which Shizuo thanked for. So he easily swiped the screen and went looking through his apps.

'Come one. Come on. Yes!'

He clicked the little icon that he was looking for. Then pointed it up to the words above the door. Snapping a picture, he brought it back down as it loaded the translations.

God Watches Over the World

'Well, that's useless.' Shizuo thought with a grumble.

He pocketed the phone and turned back to the first building.

But was completely stooped when he couldn't open those doors either.

"What the hell?! Are they locked from the inside? No!"

Shizuo tugged on the doors again. Then groaned in exasperation.

"What do I do now?!"

He looked around himself in vain hope that there was a key somewhere but he was completely unlucky. So with an annoyed and defeated sigh he slid down the door and sat in the dirt so he could properly battle his options.


"Yuuhei-san. Yuuhei-san."

Kasuka grumbled at being woken up but made no attempt to shrug Ruri away.

"We've landed, Yuuhei-san."

"...Okay." Kasuka sat up in his seat.

The foursome took up to ten minutes getting off the plane. They currently resided on a private airstrip—although whether it was owned by the Awakusu or not was up for debate. A safe distance away sat a black car with a man in black standing by it. He stood professionally with his hands held together in front of him as he waited patiently.

Celty spent a good amount of time trying to get Shooter out of the plane but once she did, the group was set. They packed into the car and drove off with Celty right behind them.

"Mr. Shiki has arranged rooms for you in a hotel in Brahms." The man said. "If you wish for a guide to Silent Hill, we can easily provide one."

"Thank you." Kasuka said in English, his accent thick in his throat. "But too many peopre might attlact attention flom the rocals."

"Understood. If you change your mind, do not hesitate to call us." The driver handed Kasuka a business card.

"We'rl keep that in mind. Thank you."

The rest of the drive was ridden in silence. For nearly an hour, they rode on and on until they reached a small hotel in Brahms as promised. Another car sat waiting for them and when they pulled in, the driver explained that the second car was for them to use. When they got out Kasuka was handed the keys and the two men drove off in the car they came in.

The four foreigners had slept on the plane ride over so none of them were suffering from jet lag. So the group was ready to set out immediately.


Shizuo looked around himself yet again, still not sure what to do. He had been staring at one of the towers that were in each corner of the courtyard and had noted that two of the towers actually had doors on them. He thought maybe that was a hint of some sort but he wasn't sure if he was overthinking it or not.

In the end, he decided to, at least, check them out. The one on his left had a picture of a woman on it. She must have been some saint with the bright aura surrounding her. He tugged on the latch door handle but it was locked.

With a grumble he went to the other door.

This one was different. The picture was broken up and scattered, each piece a square with the left corner empty. He knew automatically it was one of those puzzle piece games, where one slides the squares to rearrange the image into its proper glory.

A little intrigued and a little curious, Shizuo decided to play the puzzle. It took him nearly fifteen minutes to do it but he did it nonetheless.

'What the hell is this thing?' Shizuo thought, staring at the creature that was devoid of clothes and hair with flesh over where his eyes should be.

Once the picture was complete, the door had clicked and Shizuo—after he got a good look at the monster—pulled the handle. The door opened.

'...That's not the smartest lock to put on a door. A child could figure the code out.'

The blond knew there was no point to question it. He looked up at the tower he would be entering, the stones black, ominous, and foreboding.

'Would they have put a key up here?'

Shizuo decided it was worth a try. He climbed the spiral staircase up to the top of the tower. There was a lookout window, a cabinet and a chair.

And to the blonds horror, there was someone in the chair. The person was very much dead, his skin having already rotted and his clothes sticking to him. He was facing the window as if he had been looking out it when he died and Shizuo could see a very noticeably hole going through his skull. It looked nothing like a bullet wound, but more of a knife wound.

'Oh god.'

Shizuo felt like he was going to be sick. He wanted to leave. He wanted to leave so badly. The sight alone was enough to make his stomach churn but the smell made it absolutely unbearable.

But he didn't. Only because he saw something chrome shining in his rotten hand.

'That better be the key. Please be the key. Please please please.'

Shizuo crept forward, taking a deep breath so he didn't have to breath in the smell. He knelt down by the hand and reached for the object. But he hesitated. He really didn't want to. But he forced himself to do it. He had to find Izaya. He had to protect him from the Darkness. And he needed to have that door locked behind him.

He pried the fingers apart and shimmied the chrome out. It was indeed a key but he didn't spend time looking at it. As soon as he had it, he turned and ran back down the stairs as fast as he could.

Once outside, he inhaled deeply before falling to his knees as he panted. Once he had his breath and could control his nerves, he looked down at the key.

Chrome and simple, it was definitely a key to something but whether or not it was to the door was up for debate.

He stood and headed to the second building entrance.


"Herlo."

"Hi."

"I've come to pay the gas." Kasuka held out his credit card to the cashier. "And I was wondering if you know how to get to Sirent Hirl? I can't find on this map."

"No one goes up to Silent Hill. The towns closed off because of the fire burning underground."

"I know. I just want to know how to get there."

"...You just follow the highway. The turn off will be on the left."

"Thank you vely much."

Kasuka turned and left.

Once the Asian was standing by his car, the cashier picked up the phone and dialed.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"A couple of tourists plan to head up to Silent Hill."

"Do they know it's off limits?"

"I told them. They say they just want to know how to get there but that seems suspicious."

"Alright. We'll send an officer up that way. What are we looking for?"

"They're in a black...ford car. It looks like a newer model. License plate is..." She moved closer to the window. "5K K5555*. There's also a biker with them. I can't see his license plates though, but he's on a black bike with a yellow...cat helmet and a full body black suit. There are four all together. They're all Asian—I'm not sure about the biker though."

"Got it. Thanks, Sam. We'll take care of it."

"Alright. Bye, Ellen."

The girl known as Sam hung up then watched the strangers pile into the car, get on their motorcycle, and drive away. When they left, she could have sworn she heard a horse whiny but she dismissed it as a noise from her customers phones.


Shizuo pushed through the double doors.

"Izaya!" Shizuo called, looking around himself.

A straight hallway lied before him, turning left four door downs. Looking down at the map, he saw that the first floor was just a big square with a staircase on the far left corner leading to the second story.

A loud banging echoed through the hall as soon as the blond entered. Repeatedly something slammed against something else, over and over. Fear started to boil in Shizuo's stomach. But he knew he had to see what it was. What if it was something that would hurt him or Izaya? What if it was Izaya trapped in something? So he followed the noise, which led him to a locker room. It looked similar to the shoe lockers they had back at home.

The banging paused for a moment then continued louder than before. Shizuo balled his fist and worked up the courage to find the source. Three rows down, he found just that. A locker was shaking with every bang, making it apparent that there was something in it.

'Okay. Okay. Just...something small. Something small.'

Shizuo reached for the locker handle.

'Something small. Something small. Probably another swarm of flies. Yeah, probably just another swarm of trapped flies. I've got to let them out. It's only human to let them out.'

He unlatched the handle.

And with a fierce hiss, a regular black cat jumped out. Shizuo screamed and jumped back in fright then cursed as the cat ran away.

"How'd you get in there, little guy?" Shizuo muttered.

Knowing the cat wouldn't reply, he sighed and turned to the door.

Then he gasped.

There was something in the hallway. He wasn't sure what it was but it looked human with thick leather covering his entire body, along with a gas mask. It held a crowbar in one hand and a flashlight in the other. What's worse, two more walked into sight—one carrying a bird cage and a flashlight, the other holding just a flashlight.

'What the hell—' Shizuo backed away and ran into a table, making the table legs screech.

Shizuo pressed himself to the lockers as the creature turned and looked in his direction. He heard it push open the door and saw its flashlight streak across the room. Shizuo dropped down and glanced around the locker. The creatures weren't in sight so, staying low, he ran over to another table—this one having wooden sides—and pressed himself against it while getting as close to the wall as he could.

'What is that? Is that a person?'

The flashlight beam shined down the pathway, making Shizuo shimmy closer to the wall and closer to the ground.

'Shit. Shit.'

Shizuo put a hand over his mouth. Every heavy step the monster took made fear pool in the blonds stomach. If these monsters were anything like the pyramid head thing then three of them were something he couldn't' deal with. One of those things were as strong as him, no way could he fight three. He was in trouble. He didn't know what to do. What's more, he was scared. He was on the verge of panicking, ready to scream and run—

Something clattered to the ground behind the two. Shizuo jolted and the monster turned around to shine his flashlight.

Shizuo raised himself a little bit to peak over the desk and saw the cat from before standing on the desk. When the light was shined on it, it hissed at the thing. The creature scoffed before reaching over and grabbing a stapler—having put its crowbar down.

'Hey.'

The creature pulled its arm back, prepared to throw.

'Hey!' Shizuo got ready to intervene.

"Hey!"

Shizuo jolted and hunched back down quickly.

'Who—'

"Wait!"

Shizuo's eyes widened. 'That was Izaya...'

The creature dropped the stapler, grabbed his crowbar and turned to the second door. He passed by Shizuo without noticing the blonds presence. Shizuo still held his breath, however, scared stiff the creature would return.

Soft fur rubbing against him scared the blond, but he made sure not to attack as he knew it was the cat.

"Thanks for the save." Shizuo whispered, petting its head briefly.

Shizuo looked at the doorway the monster disappeared into. All three were completely out of sight. He got into a crouch and went over to the door to peer around it.

The three monsters turned around the corner and headed down the hall, walking fast but not running.

'Was that Izaya who yelled?'

Once the monsters were out of sight again, Shizuo felt all the muscles in his body finally release the tension they were holding. He exhaled in relief but there was suddenly no relief to be had. His legs and arms were shaking, his eyes going wide at his own bodies sudden reaction. His heart was beating fast in his ears, his breath becoming shallow and quick.

'...Am I having a panic attack? No, calm!'

Shizuo closed his eyes tight shut, his fists clenching against the floor.

'Calm, calm, calm, calm.'

Shizuo took in deep breathes to try and do just that as the cat rubbed itself against his arms.


"Cybil. Head up to Silent Hill. Apparently some tourists plan to head up that way. We're not sure what they plan to do. You're looking for a black Ford, license plate: 5K K5555, and a black motorcyclist with a yellow cat helmet."

Cybil wrote down everything she needed to know on her notepad then grabbed her walkie-talkie from her belt.

"10-4."

She looked over her notes, committed them to memory, then stuffed her notebook and walkie-talkie back into her belt. Once done, she turned on her bike and sped off toward the infamous Silent Hill.


Unless one has a custom license plate, this is an impossible plate number as far as I know.

Kittycatkyla